Thursday, November 21, 2013

You Can't Catch Me: Abraham Bowman Gingerbread Beer Finished Bourbon

No, this is not the newest flavored whiskey concoction. It is, however, the newest release from the Abraham Bowman special release series. A. Smith Bowman, in Virginia, is owned by Sazerac Company, which also owns the Buffalo Trace and Barton Distilleries in Kentucky. Their bourbons are distilled once at Buffalo Trace, then shipped to Bowman for second distillation and aging there. They use both of the Buffalo Trace rye recipe bourbon mashbills but never say which mashbill is used for which bourbon.

This particular bourbon was finished for two months in Bowman bourbon barrels that had been previously been used to age Hardywood Brewery's Gingerbread Stout (touted as aged in bourbon barrels - ah, the barrels that keep on giving). It was further aged in bourbon barrels after the beer barrel aging. I don't know that I've ever had a whiskey aged in beer barrels before, so let's give it a shot.

Abraham Bowman Gingerbread Beer Finished Bourbon, 7yo, 45% ($70)

The nose has a very strong rye component with pine notes. The palate has some bourbon sweetness up front but then a definite beer influence. There's a malty, cereal grain profile that tastes like, well, beer - malty and a bit bitter. That malty note dominates the finish as well. For two months of finishing, there is a surprising amount of beer influence on this. It's almost like a boiler maker in a bottle.

Does it work? There's a bitterness to those beer notes that's a bit strong late in the palate which puts it a bit out of balance. Overall, I'd say it's worth tasting, but I'm not sure I would want an entire bottle of the stuff.

After visiting the distillery, they told us while Sazerac is the owner all of their juice was distilled in house. According to them the only thing not done onsite was shipping aged juice up to Baltimore to be bottled as Virginia Gentleman.

Jeremy, who told you? You have to be careful with what tour guides say. Also, what does "distilled in house" mean? There's no doubt that they distill everything in house, but from what I've always been told, most of that is a second distillation of whiskey that was initially distilled at BT.

I visited there too. They don't have facilities for mashing and fermentation but they don't actually tell you that, but they don't outright lie if you know what to ask. They did tell us they truck juice to be bottled in Baltimore as Virginia Gentleman and all the Bowman lines are bottled in house.

Have you tried New Holland Beer Barrel Bourbon, which is finished in former bourbon barrels that were used to finish their Dragons Milk stout? It's very beery. I love it, but it's probably not for everyone.

The guide's name is Bill Jones. He was our tour guide in February, and was pretty new at the time, but well-versed in the operation already.

He was very up front about the fact that Bowman receives twice-distilled spirit from Frankfort, then re-distills it in-house to produce their bourbon. They do have plans to add mashing and fermenting capacity in the future, no surprise from the innovators at Buffalo Trace.

I'm a fan of Virginia Gentleman, and the regular Bowman releases, especially John J. I'm waiting to open my gingerbread-finished over the holidays!

Kevin, I've got an order in with my Richmond connection for the port finish. i also picked up a Party Source single barrel John J. 14 year old in May, on top of a couple of other Bowmans This might require a deep vertical tasting soon!

Jumping on with the other tour takers; the woman who took me has been on staff their for many years and stated clearly that the mashing and fermentation was done at BT but all distillation done on site.

On the beer finished whiskey, the new holland leaves me pretty cold, but I absolutely love the Bowman. My palate certainly isn't as sophisticated as some, but I know what I like, and there are several bottles of the gingerbread beer finished stuff stashed downstairs.